Les Messines

The room was spacious, the location was good, and the bathroom facilities were good too. But there are no shutters, and I’ve been awake since 5 a.m. without being able to get back to sleep. There’s no air conditioning, so the room gets unbearably hot. The double bed is a little small.

The price was very reasonable, and the bathroom facilities were okay. You can park on the street overnight, and the location is alright. Reception was fairly friendly, but it doesn’t open until 9 a.m. and the hours are generally inconvenient. The room smelled terrible when we arrived. There were three of us guys sharing a double bed with just one blanket, and the third person on the sofa bed didn’t have a blanket at all. The whole stay felt pretty impersonal.

We booked two rooms for a family trip, one family room and one smaller one. The rooms were really spacious and quite clean. A few things were damaged, including burn marks on a sofa cushion cover, presumably left by previous guests. The towels were clean and nicely presented, and they provided soap and shower gel. We found it odd that the toilet was separate from the rest of the bathroom. The family room had a table with space for four, a kettle, and some tea and coffee. I liked that the TV was on a bracket and had an AV input that was easy to reach, so we could hook up our DVD player and watch a movie. There were dishes, pans, and pots, though no sponge or dish detergent. Downstairs, there’s a lounge with a reasonably priced vending machine for water and soft drinks, plus a coffee machine. There’s also a sushi restaurant very close by. The windows don’t open, so if it’s hot, you have to open them completely, and there’s no safety lock. There’s no air conditioning either.

Adrien at reception was very kind and helpful, and the hotel is well located near the train station. It has real potential, but the rooms were poorly cleaned. Dirt remained around light switches, doors, the bathroom mirror and floor corners. The bathroom hygiene was questionable, the kitchen furniture looked worn and uncleaned, the microwave buttons were dirty, and the parquet was covered in dust and marks. It badly needs a vacuum and mop. The linens also made me wonder about bedbugs. In summer there are mosquitoes, and you can see two large squashed ones on the ceiling and wall, with the marks left there. The rooms get unbearably hot. There’s no air conditioning or shutters, just curtains, so daylight and heat come in. Street-side rooms also get traffic noise. Parking costs 5 euros a day, and the decor is outdated. The hotel isn’t wheelchair accessible because there’s a step at the entrance. It’s a shame, as it could be much better with improved cleaning, air conditioning, double glazing on the street side, shutters, and updated decor.